Mehr Singh Co-Editor-in-Chief I love Latin. And, besides that being the theme of the auction this year, it’s why I volunteered to help sell raffle tickets along with many other Latin students. Kids from lower, middle, and upper school paired together to show our Latin love, raise some money, and have fun. The glamorous evening started for us in “I (insert red heart here) Latin” t-shirts in a gathering room. As the IT department explained our very techno savy use of iPads to collect money for raffles, we listened excited to swipe some credit cards. We found our group of three kids and started talks about how much money we could raise from friend’s parents. But, Tebbens couldn’t let the evening go without some competition. Whichever team raised the most money would earn gift cards from a place of their choice. With that, the evening got started for us promptly at 6PM awaiting the parents. As the winner of the gift card two years ago, I thought my team was all set to go. Unfortunately, for a sweet couple who allowed me to swipe their card three times, our iPad had technical difficulties. After losing about twenty minutes of business with not one sale, the IT people were able to put us back on track. Our delayed start gave us a new strategy: hit the bar. Parents with drinks in them always gave more, even though they didn’t know what to do with a ride for four in a Goodyear Blimp. It worked out quite well. We ended the evening with credit card sales of about $1,900. Not bad for losing twenty minutes of prime time? While we aren’t sure which team won the gift card yet, we did learn some lessons from the evening: 1. Don’t ask people to buy raffle tickets at the check in counter (as they say “they need to get settled”). 2. Always ask people to buy raffle tickets at the bar (worked every time even when they had already bought some). 3. Make sure to have a cute little lower schooler with you (their voices can get anyone). Remember those for next time. And check back later to see who won the coveted raffle ticket prize!]]>